Wilkening finds the need for Holocaust education and the lessons people can learn from it more relevant now than ever. Inhumanity occurs around the world almost daily and he wants to make a difference in the lives of as many people as he can reach. “After this event (Holocaust) we said ‘NEVER AGAIN,’ yet there are numerous places today where genocide is happening. We as individuals must do our part to help humanity survive the inhumanity that some have toward others,” said Wilkening. His goal is to teach people that they need to create a safer more caring environment.
Wilkening’s presentation will have 20 minutes of how he got involved in studying the Holocaust and the history. Then 20 minutes of stories from survivors and a 20 minute video of Wilkening talking to a survivor. There will be time at the end of
the program to ask questions and make comments.
Wilkening contacted Milford Memorial Library Director Beth Sorenson to see if he could do a presentation at the library and she was excited about the idea of having him come talk about the Holocaust. “It a chance for people to remember what happened so it doesn’t happen again. It has impacted a lot of people even though for some of us younger people it is a long time in the past,” said Sorenson. The Milford Memorial Library has been telling patrons about the program and so many people have been interested and have their own stories to share.
Wilkening started teaching in 1975 and has taught at more than 5 schools in the area. He has studied the topic intensively and in 2011 he was one of 35 people selected for a class at Columbia University and again in 2017 he was one of only 35 people to go to a class in Newark sponsored by the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous. In addition to speaking at the Milford Memorial Library Wilkening will be speaking to students at Okoboji High School May 8 and 9.
Everyone is invited to come to the Milford Memorial Library on Monday, May 8, at 6:30 p.m. to listen to Brad Wilkening’s presentation Lessons of the Holocaust. The Library is located at 1009 9th Street, Milford, Iowa 51351. For questions or more information contact the library at (712) 338 – 4643 or [email protected].